By: Pranjali J Mann, News Writer

SFU department of earth sciences hosted a guest lecture with distinguished professor and 2020 Stockholm Water Prize recipient Dr. John Cherry. The lecture explored the importance of groundwater and its need for a sustainable earth. 

Cherry opened the lecture by explaining mere reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is not enough for a sustainable future. He noted the unprecedented population growth in the last half a century and stated, “So this isn’t my concept of collapse, but the number of affluent people will shrink. While the rest of humanity expands. The remaining affluent people are in a thin line, surrounded by the vast majority of extreme poverty — much famine, living in ravaged landscapes. So that’s a pretty big picture of the future, but that’s the path we’re on.”

Highlighting factors necessary for human survival, he included a 1000 liters of water per family and 2000 calories of food per person per day is the appropriate amount. These numbers flag upcoming food and water scarcity threats as one-third groundwater levels have been “depleted beyond recovery in human time.” He found irrigation to be one of the key reasons behind this. Because of this, Cherry projected that nearly four billion people will be pushed into “severe physical water scarcity for at least one month per year” as a result of depleting clean drinking water availability. 

Explaining the geological aspect of how groundwater is stored and transferred across the planet, he noted that 70% of irrigation drinking water comes from groundwater. Thus, he implied maintaining groundwater levels was necessary to maintain food supply and human sustainability. 

Drawing from disasters happening in India and Iran pertaining to water insecurity, Cherry underlined reasons related to extensive pumping and irrigation techniques. He also mentioned the “extensive over exploitation of groundwater and rising salinity levels” due to pollution. He flagged the impending threat of drought at many places around the globe including California, where underground water level is rapidly decreasing. 

Towards the end, Cherry indicated two major solutions to the threat of water insecurity. The first is changing food habits to enable more sustainable agriculture measures such as giving up meat in our diets. The second is “reducing the amount of freshwater that escapes to the oceans.” He said it’s important to innovate the agriculture industry and encourage them to shift away from chemical to ecological agriculture methods. Reducing chemicals in the ecosystems is a way to replenish groundwater levels. 

The lecture concluded with discussing ways we can contribute to the cause. Cherry included making informed voting decisions, being critical of mainstream media coverage about the environment, and volunteering with grassroots organizations. 

Dr. John Cherry is part of the Groundwater Project which aims to inform readers and provide them free, easy, and online access to materials about groundwater as an essential component of earth systems.

To learn more about the project, visit The Groundwater Project website.